Maximum Ride: Traces
by TitaniumNinja12
Summary: The Flock has saved Max's mom. They are free. They saved the world and nothing could make them happier. But after a tiny bump in the road at a nearby Target, they find someone who makes them question everything they know. Did Itex exterminate everyone? Do they know the whole truth? And are Gazzy and Angel the only siblings? Takes place between Max and Fang
1. Chapter 1

**So yeah. Max Ride. I've kinda run out of Ninjago things to do and am still working on Harry potter…. So, why not? This takes place between Saving the world and other extreme sports and the final warning, so if something's out of place it's because I haven't read the fourth one. Also I have a new OC, so that's that then.**

 **Rose's POV**

I was out of Pancake Batter. I know, that's a terrible way to start a book, but this is serious. Pancakes are a big deal. Especially my famous M&M pancakes.

So I threw on my old Cal sweatshirt, hopped into my Jeep, and drove 2 miles to get some pancake batter.

Fifteen minutes later (including the seven minutes that it took to park. I mean seriously people, it's a Sunday. Get your shit and go) I was standing in the checkout aisle, when I heard some people in the other aisle arguing loudly. I looked over the aisle separator, I saw a teenage girl, with three young kids, a dog, and two older teenagers, arguing with the clerk.

"I am old enough, to purchase things, on a credit card, without an adult!" The girl yelled, her face red. The clerk, a teenage boy, obviously a newbie, was also red in the face.

"Oh yeah, how old are you?" He retorted.

"Twenty one!" She shot back.

"And who are they?" He gestured towards the other kids, who shrank back a little.

"My siblings." She said coldly.

"You're siblings with them?" He glanced over at the black girl.

"Are you saying we can't have the same skin tone to be siblings?" She gasped, eyes narrowing.

"I'm calling security." He hissed, pulling out a walkie talkie.

" _Gazzy! Now!"_ She yelled. The small boy pulled something from out of his jacket and threw it at the ceiling. The roof exploded, creating a large hole and causing debris to fly everywhere. Everyone screamed and ducked.

The large girl took off her jacket, and wings snapped from her back. My heart stopped for a second. Everyone else followed her lead, the dog jumping into the little girls arms.

They all jumped up at once and took to the sky.

And I knew what I had to do. I pulled off my jacket and let my own wings lose. I shook them a little, watching feathers fall to the floor, and jumped into the air, following them.

It isn't that hard to find mutant bird kids, especially when they're not that far behind. They flew all the way to Mt. Diablo, and I was right on their tails.

They landed in the forest and I landed softly in a tree, careful to make sure my wings didn't cause a commotion.

The young boy, Gazzy, flopped against a tree, disappointment clearly written across his face.

"You'd think after saving the world from Itex, we would be shown a little appreciation." He groaned, snapping some twigs in half. I dared not breathe.

The older girl folded her wings and ruffled Gazzy's hair, "Sorry Gasman. We still have food though."

He looked up at her. "We have old hot dogs and granola bars. Not much to sustain six growing kids, plus the dog."

"The dog." The dog scoffed. I let out a gasp.

One of the teenage boys, snapped his head up and looked around. "Some one's here." Everyone was soon on high alert. I tried to breathe as quietly as I could, slowly going backwards, tensing to jump in the air.

Suddenly, there was a huge _crack_ sound. The branch underneath me snapped and I plummeted down to the ground.

I let out a shriek and landed on the ground, on my ass. The dog started barking. "STRANGER DANGER, STRANGER DANGER!" He ran around in circles, yipping. "Total, hush." The small blonde girl snapped.

I groaned and found myself being pinned to the ground.

"Who are you and how did you find us." She hissed, gritting her teeth.

"Whoa, it's too early for death threats." I gasped, as she pushed her knee into my stomach. I squirmed and flapped my wings.

"Max, look what she has." The boy with the long black hair said from behind her Max. Max saw my wings and immediately jumped off. I wheezed and sat up, my head spinning from lack of oxygen.

"You have wings too." She whispered. "Angel, what's she thinking?" She suddenly snapped. The small girl, Angel, stared at me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, getting creeped out.

"She just wants to know who we are. Ask questions." She replied, turning to face Max

"What kind of questions." Max asked, eying me warily, at the same time I asked, "Did she just read my mind?"

"Just who we are and where we came from."

"She looks pretty cool. She has triple piercings. And a leather jacket." Gazzy commented. I noticed that the boy who had heard me hasn't said anything.

"That could mean an assortment of things." Max replied.

"Do you think she was experimented on at the School?" The black girl asked.

"We never saw her there Nudge. She must of been in a different part of the building." The boy with the black hair commented.

"But she does look kinda familiar Fang." Nudge retorted.

" _What the hell does she look like!"_ The boy who heard me burst out. With a jolt I realized his eyes were milky and vacant. He must be blind.

"Oh, right, sorry Iggy. She has short blonde hair, with a kinda side mohawk on the left side, brown eyes, white tank top, a neck choker, and a dagger ish necklace." Gazzy said, while Iggy hung onto every word he said.

"I'm sorry, i'm not some zoo exhibit you can goggle at. I assume you come from the School too so you should know how I feel." I snapped, standing up and brushing the dirt off my pants.

"Right. Sorry, we should have known." Max said gently. "What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Thats a nice name." Iggy stated, and I grinned a tiny bit.

"I know who she looks like!" Nudge said suddenly, snapping her fingers.

"Who?" The dog, Total said, startling me.

"She looks like you Max!" Nudge exclaimed. Me and Max looked at each other. I guess we did, a little. We were the same height, about the same age, and height. We both had blonde hair, and brown eyes.

"A lot of people look like me." Max waved it off.

"Not with that." Fang pointed at my cheek, where my scar was. I looked at max and saw she had a scar like that too.

"How'd you get that scar?" She asked me. I shrugged.

"Born with it I guess. You?"

"Born." We kinda stared at each other for a while.

"Did you know that there are seven people on this world who look exactly like you?" Max suddenly said, breaking eye contact.

"What does that have to do with anything." Fang huffed.

"She could be one of them."

"In the same place at the same time? Doubt it."

"Look, as much as I love this, it's getting dark, and you guys need a place to stay. So you might as well come with me." I said, turning around and preparing to jump into the air.

"Why, so you can take us back to the School? We are in California." Max snapped, suddenly stiffening.

"No… So I can take you to my place so you can stay there." I scoffed, jumping up and hovering in the air. "Anyone coming?" They all looked at each other. With one single nod from Max, they all jumped up and waiting for me, Angel holding Total.

"Okay then. First we have to get my car and then head to Safeway. I need pancake batter."

"Pancakes! Alright!" Total yipped, wiggling in Angels grasp.

"Never gonna get used to that." I muttered, leading the way through the trees.

 **So yeah! First chapter done. This is gonna be one of those stories where I have an idea in my head and just have to work out the minor bumps in the road. Hope you all enjoy. This is different than all my Ninjago things, but hope you like it.**

 **Titan Ninja out! (mic drop)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Rose's POV**

Riding in a minivan with seven people really isn't fun. Gazzy had to sit in between the seats in the back only because he wanted to and because there wasn't enough room, and Total sat with Max, who sat shotgun.

"This is a neat car." Nudge said, looking out the window.

"Thanks." I replied, turning left onto my street. We had quickly stopped at Safeway, where I had gotten pancake batter and more M&M's

"Just a warning, I live in an apartment complex, with one bedroom. The other bedroom is my art studio. Someone can sleep with me, I have two couches, so two people can sleep on the couches, and three people are going to have to sleep on the floor. But I have an air mattress and blankets and sleeping bags, so we should be set. And there was something else…" I mused. "OH right! Total, I have a cat, don't eat him."

"Eat him?!" What kind of undignified dog do you think I am?" He huffed.

"I dunno, I've only known you for like, thirty minutes." I shrugged.

"This is all very nice. You don't have to do this for us." Max insisted.

"I see six kids out in the woods with wings and they're starving? What else am I supposed to do?" I parked in my parking spot, turned off the car, and hopped out.

We walked down the hallway, and I turned a corner, and there was my apartment, on the left. I took out my key and opened the door.

"Welcome to Mi Casa!" I said proudly, swinging the door open.

In truth, my apartment was a mess. I had uncleaned dishes in the sink, my computer and school work was all across the table, and there were clothes strewn all over my room.

"Wow. This is so neat!" Gazzy yelled, running inside. Total followed.

We all walked in, and Gazzy threw himself on the couch.

"Gazzy…" Max warned.

"He's fine." I waved it off. "He's just being a kid."

"Where's your cat?" Max asked, looking from room to room.

"He comes and goes." I shrugged.

"What's in here?" Nudge opened the door to my art studio.

If they thought that the apartment was a mess, they were not prepared for the art room. Everything was neatly in it's spot, my sketchbooks were on the table, surrounded by mason jars filled with paint brushes, colored pencils, and normal pencils.

"Whoa." Nudge whispered in awe, walking over to my bookshelf filled with books on how to draw anime and normal books, like Harry Potter and stuff.

"Yeah. I'm an art student in college." I said proudly.

"Hey Rose." Fang stuck his head inside the room.

"What?" I asked, turning around.

"Can I borrow your car?" He asked casually.

"Why…" I asked warily.

"I was thinking of Taco Bell."

"Oh, then yeah, sure." I said, relived. "Can you drive?"

"Uh huh."

"Then be my guest." I waved it off and pulled out a book to show Nudge.

"Can I come?" Gazzy asked from the other room.

"Yeah, why not? Max, credit card." After about two minutes I could hear them leave, the front door shutting.

"What's that?" Nudge asked, pointing to my electric guitar in the corner.

"My guitar." I picked it up and played a few chords.

"Awesome." Nudge grinned.

"Hey, Can I take a shower?" Iggy asked from the doorway.

"Yeah, do you need help?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm good." and he walked right into the bathroom.

"I thought he was blind." I asked Nudge.

"Yeah. But he can feel things and makes like, a mental map in his head of where things are." She explained, turning a page.

"Ah, right." I played some more chords and placed it down.

"What's this?" Nudge asked, picking up my songbook.

"I write songs in there."

"'Just like a needle in a haystack, another day when we run with the wolf pack'… That's real neat." She said, giving it back to me and giving me a smile.

"Thanks. It's a work in progress of course…" I trailed off and Max walked in.

"Wow. Very artsy." She said.

"Thanks." I replied.

"Hey, Total needs to use the restroom. Where's the nearest lawn?" She asked.

"Oh here." I walked into the kitchen, where Total was whining and scratching at the door.

"I gotta go!" He yelped.

"Here." I reached down and picked him up. He wrigled for a bit, and then settled. I opened the door, and shut it behind me. I quickly ran outside, and set him down in the grass.

"Ahhh." He relaxed. "Don't watch!" He yelped, and I turned around quickly, suddenly facing one of the cutest boys in the complex.

"Hey." He said.

"Oh! Hey Brian!" I yelped, blushing furiously.

"Hey Rose. I didn't know you have a dog. What's her name?" He asked, bending down to scratch Total behind the ears.

"Her name? Her name is… Luna." I stuttered, trying to come up with a name on the run. I saw that Total was getting pissed off.

"Hey, sorry I have to cut this short, but I have lots of homework to do, and I really need to get that done." I said as I bent down to pick up Total.

"Definitely, no problem." He said, winking. "Catch you around some time then." And he walked down the opposite hallway, as I stood there, stunned.

"Was he flirting with me?" I muttered.

"Her." Total fumed. "I look like a male, right? Maybe I just need a haircut."

"Was he?" I repeated.

"I don't know, humans are confusing." He grumped. A little dazed, I opened the door to the apartment, and found Fang and Gazzy distributing Taco Bell.

"Here's yours." Fang said, holding out my box. I set Total down and picked it up, the warmth flooding through my hands.

After dinner, we sat around and watched T.V. Then, we decided who was going to get what bed. We decided Nudge was going to sleep with me, Gazzy and Angel would get the couches, and Iggy, Max, and Fang would sleep on the floor.

I was sitting up in bed, listening to Nudge's soft snores and writing in my notebook, when I heard some talking from the kitchen. I slowly creeped out of bed, and opened the door a crack to find Max and Fang standing in the kitchen and talking in hushed voice.

"-The same scar? All these similarities connect. You need to talk to Jeb. Or your Mom, or someone." Fang hissed.

"She is not. In a few days we'll be leaving and all this will be over." Max hissed back. I frowned. Leaving? Why? They just got here!

"Why do we always need to be on the run? Why can't we just stay in one place in peace?" Fang snapped.

"You know why. It's not safe. It isn't now and it never will be." Max snapped.

"God damn Max, can't you think of someone other than yourself." Fang snarled.

"I am. I'm thinking of what's best for the flock-"

"What's best for the flock is if we just relax and get rest and just lay low for a while. Hell, lay low for years. That's what's best." Max paused, staring at the floor.

"Okay fine. We can stay. But at the first sign of danger, we're out of here, okay?" Max didn't wait for an answer, she pushed past Fang towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Fang asked.

"Night fly." And she shut the door behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Rose's POV**

I woke up the next morning at around nine a.m. I sat up, careful not to wake Nudge, stretched, grabbed some clothes, and headed to the bathroom to change and shower in there.

I walked out of the bathroom later, my hair dripping, and found myself face to face with Iggy. More like face to back. He was shifting through the cabinets.

"Oh! Hey Iggy." I said.

"Hey, where do you keep the pancake batter?" He asked.

"It's right on the counter." I grabbed it and placed it in his hand.

"Okay, thanks." He grabbed a pan and placed it on the stove.

"Are you sure you want to cook? I can if you can't…" I trailed off and Iggy gave a short laugh.

"I've been cooking since I was three with Jeb." He grinned, and grabbed a big bowl.

"Okay then. I'm going to go to school now. It's right around the corner and I wrote my cell number on a sticky note, so make sure to tell Fang or Max or someone." I said, picking up my backpack.

"Okay, thanks." He said.

"I'll be back around lunch time, see you then." I grinned, and walked out the door, closing it softly behind me.

First I had chemistry, then english, and then finally art! The art teacher was amazing. He basically let us have free draw days, like, every other day.

I sat next to two of my friends, Melissa and Avery.

"So, are we all in for the sleepover at my place?" Melissa asked as she worked on her drawing of anime.

"Sleepover, oh shit! I forgot." I exclaimed, almost knocking over my watercolors.

"Why, what's going on?" Avery asked.

"What's going on? Oh.. my brother's in town." I said quickly.

"I didn't know you have a brother." Melissa murmured, half listening.

"Really, I never told you?" I tried to sound shocked.

"What's his name?" Avery asked, looking up from her art.

"Uhhh….. Aiden." I said quickly.

"Aiden?" Melissa snorted. "Like that kid you had a crush on in high school?" I blushed.

"No, like my brother Aiden." I snapped, dipping my paintbrush in water over and over again.

"We'd like to meet him, maybe you could introduce us to him sometime." Avery said out of the side of her mouth, concentrating hard on her computer drawing.

"Yeah, sure whatev-" A huge explosion rocked the building. People screamed and ducked under the tables. I jumped up out of my seat.

 _The flock, they found us._ I raced to the door, ignoring the yells from my friends, and ran down the corridor. I had to get to the apartment complex before they did.

 **Max's POV**

They must be feeling like quite the smart asse's, finding us here. Well hooray for them.

"UP AND AWAY!" I yelled as the apartment started crumbling around us.

"What about Rose's stuff!?" Nudge screamed.

"What about it?" Fang snapped, snapping his wings out and taking off through a hole in the roof.

"I want to help her, but we don't have a choice." I tried to explain. Nudge nodded a tiny bit, and flipped out her chocolate brown wings and soared up through the hole, followed by Gazzy and Iggy, with Total huddled in Iggy's grasp.

Which left me and Angel, staring up at me with her captivating eyes.

"She's coming." She said.

"Who?"

"Rose. She's coming, and she needs to leave. They'll see her and try to kill her. Just like the rest of the mutants." She shuddered and I pulled her close.

"We destroyed Itex, remember?"

"There are still people who want us dead." For a six year old that was pretty deep

"I know sweetie. She'll see us from the sky." I stood out and whipped out my wings.

"But-"

"Angel, we need to move." I looked down at her, try to muster up as much leaderless as I could.

She sighed deeply and snapped out her tiny white wings.

"Fine." She jumped and was up and away.

I looked around the crumbling room. I felt a tiny twinge of guilt, and then told myself it was their fault, not mine.

Right as I was about to jump through the hole, something fluttered down from the top of the fridge. With lightening fast reflexes, I reached out and snatched it from the air.

It was a picture, of her and another baby when she was about six months old.

As old as I was when I went to The School.

And they were twins.

 **Rose's POV**

I ran down the street, huffing. I saw something dart out of the bushes towards me. It lept into my arms with a grateful _meow._

"Bella!"I cried, as she nuzzled my face.

"Oh thank god you're here! I thought I was gonna die." She yelped. Yeah, my cat can talk. I got her from the school, just give it a rest, alright!

"We have to find the Flock." I said, scanning the sky.

"You mean those weird smelling people that were in our house?" Those dudes? With the dog?!"

"Yes with the dog, help me find them." It took me less than five seconds to see their outlines in the sky.

"There!" I yelled. I squirmed out of my jacket, opened my black and white wings, and took to the sky.

"Hey!" I yelled, my voice being carried away by the wind. But it was enough. Max and the flock turned to face me.

"Care to explain what happened to my house!?" I yelled, pointing at the smoke rising into the air from the apartment complex.

"They found us! We tried to warn you!" Max yelled back, the wind whipping her hair around, making her look like some winged god.

I looked back at my home, my heart aching. Sirens wailed in the distance.

"Look, you have to come with us. They know who- and what- you are." Fang explained.

"Getting closer…" Iggy warned, his head tilted in the slightest way.

"Please Rose. I found this." Max handed me a small square piece of paper. I grabbed it. It was a baby picture of me and another girl.

"We have some things to talk about." Bella shivered in my arms.

I hesitated.

"Right underneath us." Iggy yelled.

"Rose…" Fang warned.

"Fine." I snapped. _My art._ My heart groaned. "Let's just get out of here."

We decided to go to Arizona, where Max's Mother was. We thought she'd be able to tell us what's going on.

I flew behind everyone. I needed some time to comprehend what was going on. I had given Bella to Angel, and they had been talking and chatting happily for the past hour or so. Total was not very happy about that.

I heard wingbeats above me. "Hey." I heard Iggy's voice call from above. "How ya doing down there newbie?" He swooped down so the he was sailing a little below me, but enough for us to talk together.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked him.

"Your wing beats are off. Not like our perfect strokes." He gloated. I just gaped. He knew it was me just by the sound of my wings. I could barely hear the sound of my wings and he could?

"You haven't answered, but you're still breathing so…"

"How can you hear all of that?" I asked, astounded.

"I've been blind from the age of five or so, so you kinda get used to hearing and smelling thing that no one else can. By the way, when was the last time you showered?" He asked, plugging his nose and waving the air.

I hit him the shoulder with my wing, and he laughed, soaring upward.

"Hey, where's the dog?" I asked, looking around.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" I heard a voice yell ahead of us. I looked up and saw that Total was flying. Yeah that's right. Flying. He had his own little pair of wings that were flapping like crazy.

"Whoa." I gaped.

"You my friend, have a lot to learn." Iggy grinned, his sightless blue eyes gleaming.

"I can see the house!" Max suddenly yelled. She tucked her wings in, and dive bombed.

Because of some extra special sight thingy I have, I can see extra far. I looked down and saw that she was aiming for a small house on the edge of a cul de sac street next to a forest.

"Who lives there?" I asked.

"Max's Mom." Iggy answered, and he tucked his wings and and dive bombed as well. I realized I was the only one hovering in the air.

"Don't be a coward, she's an ally. She can help me and tell me what's going on." I scolded myself. I tucked in my wings, and dived to the earth.

I hadn't flown in so long. It was so thrilling, feeling my hair whip around, my wings tucked in, wind whistling in my face.

I landed with a soft thud, a couple of feet away from the house, where a lady had already landed out and was hugging Max.

"I missed you so much!" She said, hugging Max fiercely. I felt a pang in my stomach. _I never had that._

"And there's Fang and Iggy and Nudge and Gazzy and Angel and Total and-" She looked around our band of misfits and stopped when she saw me standing there like a demon with black and white wings and pericings and etc.

"Oh right. Mom, this is Rose. We have some questions for you." Max said, grabbing me and pulling me forward.

Usually, there was something about strangers that made me shifty, but Dr. Martinez made me feel relaxed, comfortable.

"Right, of course. Well, come inside then. I made cookies!" Dr. Martinez announced. Max made a little clap and hurried inside.

"Is Akila here?" Fang asked, his little tail wagging.

"She will be here soon, once I tell Jeb." Fang let out a bark of happiness and rushed inside as well. Angel set Bella down, who rushed over to me, and the rest of them made their way inside.

Iggy paused at the door, and turned.

"You coming or what?" He yelled at me as Bella sprang into my arms.

I took a deep breath. Bella gave me a reassuring purr.

"Yeah. I'm coming."


	4. Chapter 4

**Rose's POV**

Dr. Martinez had sat me and Max and the rest of the flock down (after cookies of course)

"You don't know the whole truth." She started off.

Max let out a snort. "That's new."

Dr. Martinez gave her an exasperated look. "You destroyed the School, and Itex, and I am very proud of you for doing that, but you need to know something." She sucked in a huge breath.

"There are other schools out there."

The rest of the room reacted like they just got punched in the gut. Max sucked in a breath, Angel's eyes went huge, Nudge let out a little whimper, Gazzy kinda made a choking sound, Fang…. well, Fang stayed silent, Total stopped munching on cookies, and Iggy started laughing.

"You really got us there didn't you. But i'm afraid this little April fools prank came a little bit early."

"No Iggy, i'm serious. There is another school, and that's where you-" She pointed at me. "Came from."

"Where is it?" I asked.

"In a remote part of Maine. When Jeb and I created you, I accidently had twins."

"You don't accidentally have twins." Total muttered.

"Jeb and I had planned on having one child we would give to the School. But when I had two, he decided to give you to the secret school, in hopes that they could continue the experiments over there, so thats-" She was cut off by the sound of helicopter wings whirring.

"Not the helicopter." groaned, flopping her head into her hands. "Why does he always have to make a dramatic entrance." Max stood up, walked to the window, glanced out, and spun around with murder on her face.

"YOU CALLED _HIM_!" She yelled, pointing out the window.

"He's the only one who can explain this to you." Dr. Martinez tried to explain, but Max was already out the door.

"Yeah no. No way in hell this is happening, so get your ass back into that metal death machine and leave us alone!" She yelled at some unseen man outside.

I ran to the door and stopped.

Standing there, lab coat billowing out like he was a supervillain, was Jeb. The man who rescued me and left me with the hell demons.

Dr. Martinez had somehow made Max let him in. I didn't want him to come in either, so I just stood in the farthest corner of the room and sulked, scowling at Jeb.

"And how did you find her?" He asked Max, pointing at me.

"We found her at Target. $5.99 if you can imagine. Really good deal." Max smirked. Jeb glanced at me like, _for real?_ I just scowled.

He sighed. "And how long have you been living on your own Lisa?" He asked me. My cheeks flushed and I took two threatening steps forward.

"Let me make this clear. My. Name. Is. Rose. Not the name you and your lab buddies came up with. Rose. R-O-S-E. Get it?" I snarled.

"How long have you been living on your own Rose?" He asked again.

"Three years. As soon as I could get away from my so called parents, I did. Flew the coop, I guess you could say."

"And this was the first time you have gotten attacked?" He asked again.

"Other than the guy who tried, and failed, to mug me in Chinatown, no, no attacks." I replied. Jeb started to pace, looking agitated.

"How long were you going to keep this other school a secret?" Max asked.

"The other school was shut down as soon as you destroyed Itex, but I believe that there are some scientists who are continuing their work on children."

"Do you have any idea where these scientists are working?" Dr. Martinez asked.

"No, not yet, but-" Jeb started but was cut off by Max.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, we'll blow them up when the time comes, but tell me this. Are we," She pointed at me. "Siblings?"

"Yes Max, you are siblings." Jeb replied, with a grim look. I sucked in a breath, and Max briskly walked to the door, flung it opened, snapped out her wings and jumped to the air.

Dr. Martinez made a move to grab her, but Fang gently held her back. "She'll be back." He replied, face taut.

"Right. Well, you all might as well go upstairs and find your rooms and such." Dr. Martinez said, waving us away. I got the jist and walked upstairs. She needed to talk to Jeb.

I walked down the hall, and stumbled upon a room with a very large window. I glanced around, and opened the window. I jumped out, landed on the roof, and crawled up to the top, where I leaned against the chimney. I closed my eyes.

 _I want this day to end._ I thought, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

I woke up hours later. The sky was already changing colors and the sun was setting. I peered over the edge of the roof. The helicopter was still there. I groaned and resettled myself, just as I heard a voice calling my name.

It was Iggy. "On the roof!" I yelled, closing my eyes.

I heard a thump. "You've been up here for hours." I cracked one eye open and saw Iggy standing there, a disapproving look on his face.

"Sorry Dad." I muttered.

"You okay?" He asked in a more gentle voice, coming to sit down next to me.

"Yeah. Just, frustrated and… confused." I sighed.

"About?" He pressed.

"Life right now. I just want to live a normal life, not being a mutant freak, you know?" I ran my fingers through my hair. Iggy nodded.

"I might know a thing or two about wanting to be normal." He said, grinning. "You've only said one or two things about your past family. What were they like?" He asked.

I grimaced. "When I was nine, Jeb broke me out of the School. I had no clue where I was, and he never told me. He brought me to my Aunt and Uncle, in New Jersey, and made me live there." I paused, and Iggy nodded. "They made my life a living hell. They knew about the wings, and so they treated me like an outcast. Have you ever listened to Harry Potter?" I asked him. He nodded. "They treated me like the Dursleys treated Harry. Except I got my own room."

"So first chance I got, I fled. I got accepted into the school of arts in San Francisco. I got a job, and saved up enough money from when I was little to fly there and pay for a house and college tuition." I stopped, catching my breath.

"I'm sorry. I kinda know what it's like having messed up parent's." He said, sighing.

I leaned forward. "I'm intrigued. Do tell."

He glanced at me, chuckled, and began. "My parent's, were, we-" He was cut off by the sound of the front door banging.

"IGGY? ROSE? DINNER!" I heard Gazzy yell. I stood up, Iggy standing next to me.

"You can tell me about your backstory later." I said, suddenly feeling shy and sheepish.

"Yeah, maybe I will." He grinned, then jumped down from the roof, landing softly in the grass.

"What were you two doing up there?" I heard Gazzy ask.

"Just talking." Iggy replied. I leaned over the edge and saw Iggy just shrugging.

" _Just_ talking?" Gazzy giggled. "Yeah, i'm sure you were _just_ talking." Iggy made a move to slap him but Gazzy ran into the house, laughing.

I entered the house from the back door, not wanting anything to be awkward

"There you are." Dr. Martinez sighed from the kitchen. "You've been gone for a while, is everything alright?" She gave me a worried look.

"Oh yeah, everything's fine." Waving it off, I sat down at the table, across from Iggy, next to Nudge and Fang. I noticed there was a new girl sitting at the table.

"Ummm, who are you?" I asked her.

"I'm Ella, Max's half sister." She grinned. She had long black hair pulled away from her eyes, and a huge smile and brown eyes.

"I _love_ your hair." Ella gushed as Dr. Martinez brought over the quesadillas and pulled pork for burritos.

I grinned. "Thanks. Have you ever tried french braiding your hair?" I asked, piling the pork on my plate as the others ate and chatted.

Ella shook her head. "Usually it's down or pulled up in a ponytail."

"You have to let me braid your hair tonight. The you can let it down tomorrow and it'll be curly." Bella hopped onto my lap just then and mewed.

"Woah. You have a cat?" Ella's eye's went wide.

"Yeah, her name is Bella. I found her one day behind a building on campus." I said, scratching her behind the ears.

"Where did you go to school?" Dr. Martinez asked.

"San Francisco School Of The Arts." I replied, taking a huge bite. My mouth filled with a ton of flavors and I almost choked.

"This, is amazing. You have to teach me how to cook like this." I gushed taking like, five more bites.

"Maybe I can teach you tomorrow." She replied grinning.

"That would be amazing." I grinned, gulping down water. Across the table, I caught snippets of Gazzy and Iggy talking about explosions, Nudge and Angel talking about fashion, and Fang and Jeb talking about…. I don't even want to know. Max stayed silent and sullen.

"What did you do at College?" Ella asked me.

"Well, I was aiming to be an art major, but then my house got blown up, and I came here. I mainly focused on drawing and photography, stuff like that." I grinned.

"I have a Cannon, can you show me how to take pictures?" Ella asked.

I grinned. "Of course I can."

"You say your house got blown up?" Dr. Martinez asked me. I nodded. "Well, maybe when all this is over, you can live here."

I gaped. "Really? That would be amazing!"

"Yeah, and there's an Art School down the road, so you can see if you can continue your studies there."

"Wow. I mean…. thank you so much! Thats incredible." I grinned.

Later, I was sitting on Ella's bed, doing her hair in front of a mirror so she could see what I was doing.

"And over and under, ponytail please." I grabbed the end of the braid with one hand, and held out my other for the ponytail holder.

"Yeah, here." I grabbed it from her and tied up the loose ends.

"Wow. This looks so amazing!" Ella squealed, twisting in front of the mirror. Then she started twirling, laughing.

I spied the Cannon on her desk. "Keep spinning! Hold on." When inspiration strikes, I need to act on it. I grabbed the camera and turned it on.

"My head hurts." She whined, giggling.

"Sorry sweetie. Okay, three, two, one." I clicked the camera while she was spinning. Ella raced over to see.

"Omg, that's adorable!" She squealed. I had gotten the shot right as she was facing the camera, smiling and laughing, her hair looking almost like it was floating around her.

"What's going on in here?" Dr. Martinez appeared at the door.

"Look!" Ella took the camera and held it up for her mom to see.

"Oh wow! This is so nice! You have a real gift." Dr. Martinez smiled at me. "We oughta hang this up somewhere." I blushed. I never heard that from my *cough* _aunt and uncle_.

Just then, Max appeared next to the door.

"Hey, Rose, can I talk to you?" She asked, her face cold as stone. I knew immediately something was up.

"Yeah. Brb." I grinned to Ella. She giggled, and Max lead me to her room literally one door down.

"Okay, what's up with the act?" She snarled.

'What act?" I replied, startled.

"Don't act like that. I know you know what's up. This little thing you have going on with Ella and my Mom."

"You mean ou-"

"No. _My_ Mom, not yours. You can't just waltz in here and ruin everything." I gaped at her.

"I ruined everything? _I ruined everything?"_ My voice rose to a screech. "You were the one's who came and destroyed my home, my art, and my chance to get an amazing job being a character designer for Disney! Yeah, that's right. D-I-S-N-"

"You can't complain about things not going your way all the time. I've been followed my whole life by Erasers, Flyboys, Itex, everybody!" She yelled. "I've seen my friends die and innocent people die because of me."

"You want to talk about killing innocent people!" I yelled back at her. "I created Hurricane Katrina, the Joplin Tornado, all because someone told me to!" Max took two steps back, terrified.

"They programmed me with the power to control weather and all they used it for was killing!" I stopped, realizing the full effect of what I said.

"They used me." I whispered. "All I ever wanted was a family. And now I have it." I looked up and glared at Max.

"I have a family and i'm not letting no stuck up twin of mine take it from me."

I spun around and whirled the door open, only to find the whole flock standing there, shell-shocked.

Iggy opened his mouth, but I cut him off. "Just don't." I pushed past all of them and ran down the hall. I flung the front door open, and jumped into the air flinging my wings open and letting the cold air peirce my face. I just needed to leave.


End file.
